Clifford said in the memo that when he rejected the requested raise, Metra board Chairman Brad O'Halloran indicated it would be taken into account during deliberations over whether to renew Clifford's employment contract.

"He told me that he needed to arrange a meeting with Speaker Madigan to assess `what damage I have done' to Metra and its future funding by my refusal to accede to Speaker Madigan's requests," Clifford wrote in the memo.

Clifford said Wednesday that he believed Madigan's actions, while perhaps not illegal, betrayed "a moral and ethical flaw."

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said the House speaker was merely supporting a recommendation by the employee's supervisor and did nothing improper. Brown said of Clifford's remarks Wednesday that "he appeared to have an excuse for every screw-up."

The employee, a labor relations specialist, never got the raise and quit. He subsequently landed a job with the Illinois Department of Central Management Services on a recommendation from Madigan.

Clifford also says he got an inappropriate request for a hiring favor from a member of the Legislature's Latino caucus.

And he accuses a Metra board member of intervening in a major construction contract in an attempt to strike a deal with Rush for a $50,000 subcontract to be awarded to the National Black Chambers of Commerce in Washington, D.C. Clifford said that when he asked, the board member did not even know what work the organization was supposed to do.

"He just wanted me to call Congressman Rush's office and find out who I was supposed to write this $50,000 check to," Clifford said. "And I said, `Well, I can't do that.'"

Rush's spokeswoman, Debra Johnson, said the congressman was recommending the chamber of commerce be tapped to oversee the recruitment of more minority contractors for a construction project.